Sprinkling apparatus



Feb. 23, 1954 K. LAUX SPRINKLING APPARATUS 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Feb. 20, 195Q Inventor.- m

Feb. 23, 19 54 K. LAUX 2,670,237 SPRINKLING APPARATUS Filed Feb. 20 1950 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Inventor:

Feb. 23, 1954 Filed Feb. 20 1950 K. LAUX SPRINKLING APPARATUS 4 Sheets-Sheet 5 Int/anion WM -MM u WM Patented Feb. 23, 1954 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE SPRINKLING APPARATUS Karl Laux, Hannover-Linden, Germany Application February 20, 1950, Serial N 0. 145,121

This invention relates to certain improvements in or relating to reaction type sprinkling apparatus. 7

It is the object of the present invention to provide a design of such sprinkling apparatuses or raining plants which permits a large jet length and. a reliable regulation of the speed of rotation. With this and further objects in view, which will hereinafter appear, my novel sprinkling apparatus comprises a jet tube which is mounted to rotate, by action of the reaction component of the water jet, about the vertical center axis of a bearing casing feeding the water under pressure to the rotary part in a vertical direction. The invention is based on the knowledge that contrary to the opinion existing in the art even a multiple deflection of the water jet at an acute angle has no detrimental effect upon the hydraulic conditions provided that the deflection takes place under predetermined conditions, and that this fact not only permits a reliable. control of the reaction force by compensating devices partly known per se, but it also permits adjustment of the torque itself within wide limits.

According to an important featureof the present invention the water duct is twice bent at a sharp angle in the rotary part of thesprinkling apparatus or raining mechanism directly after leaving the bearing casing and then issues into the straight jet tube, and for regulation of the reaction force there is arranged a hydraulic and/or mechanical compensating device acting directly upon the rotary part of the sprinkling apparatus. The mechanical modification of this compensating device may consist of at least two braking cylinders pivotally mounted on the sprinkler casing preferably so as to be horizontally swingable and comprising pistons which are coupledwith the rotary part of the sprinkler in such a manner that the dead center positions oftheir strokes do not coincide. In'a preferred modification the pistonrods of the braking cylinders are coupled through a common crank with a pinion mounted in the casing of the sprinkler and driven by the rotary part of the sprinkler. The mechanical control is based on the braking efiect of the air cylinders whose dead center positions are relatively displacedto such an extent, by the special cinematic function of the moving piston, that a practically uniform revolving motion is resulting. l j wAccording to afurther, featureof the invention,:.special ,meansare' provided .for reducing 3 Claims. (Cl. 299-69) v the friction caused by the movements of the pistons in their cylinders, more particularly in case of the provision of rubber sleeves. To this end, metal pistons may be used, which, however, require a very accurate machining, thereby causing high costs of manufacture.

A further possibility of reducing the friction consists in making the pistons of a non-hygroscopic or only slightly hygroscopic material, e. g. of the synthetic material known under the name of Novotex or of sintered metal powder. Pistons of such a material do not require a very accurate machining in order to ensure reliable operation of the piston brakes in permanent service.

According .to a further feature of the invention, the mechanical compensating device consists of at least two bellows pivotally mounted on the bearing casing so as to be swingable preferably in a horizontal direction, in such a way that one end thereof is hinged to the stationary casing of the sprinkler while the other end carries out a reciprocating motion and is coupled with the rotary part of the sprinkler in such a manner that the dead center positions of the strokes of the bellows do not coincide.

The reciprocating ends of the bellows may be coupled, by a common crank, with a pinion mounted in the casing of the sprinkler and driven by the rotary part thereof.

In a practical form of the mechanical compensating device each of the two ends of each bellows is connected with a stationary and a movable flange, said flanges in turn being interconnected by slide rods and the stationary flange being swingably mounted on the casing of the sprinkler while the movable flange is connected with a crank disc, by an eye bolt, preferably being adjustable, e. g., by a nut.

In order to reduce the noxious space in the bellows to a minimum and simultaneously to prevent a detrimental sagging and deformation of the bellows, it is contemplated to provide one of the flanges of each bellows, e. g., the stationary flange, with a cylinder head projecting into the bellows and having a diameter corresponding approximately to the inner width of thebellows and, a height corresponding approximately to the minimum distance between the inner faces of the two flanges.

Where the bellows according to the invention are provided with a vent hole, the cross section thereof may be adjustable, e. g., by a regulating valve.

According to a still furtherfeature'of the in:

3 vention the bellows may be designed as a smiths bellows. This results in a very simple and cheap construction, in which moreover the space under the driving disk of the sprinkler is utilized in a very economic manner.

In this case, it is possible to omit the above mentioned toothed gear means. To this end, the plate of the rotary part of the sprinkler may bear one or more driving cams seizing the movable end plate of each of the bellows arranged star-fashion in the stationary casing of the sprinkling system and temporarily taking it along.

Other and further objects, features and advantages of the invention will be pointed out hereinafter and appear in the appended claims 'forming part of the application.

In the accompanying drawings several now preferred embodiments of the invention are shown by way of illustration and not by way of limitation.

Fig. 1 is a front view of a first embodiment of the invention,

Fig. '2 is a side view thereof,

Fig. 3 is a plan view, and

Fig. 4 is a bottom view, partly in section, thereof;

Fig. 5 is a bottom view of an embodiment .of the compensating device, the left hand bellows being shown in a section on line 5-5 in Fig. '8,

Fig. 6 is a plan view of a bellows, the bearing journals and the bearing for the crank disc being shown in a section on line 8-5 in Fig. 5,

Fig. 7 is an end view of the stationary flange viewed in the direction 'i-'i of Fig. 5,

' Fig. 8 is an end view of the movable flange viewed in the direction 8-8 of Fig. 5,

Fig.9 is a bottom view of a further embodiment of the compensating device, and

Fig. 1c is a bottom view of still another embodiment thereof.

Similar reference numerals denote similar parts in the different figures.

Referring now to the drawings in greater detail, and first to Figs. 1 to 3, it will be seen that the rotary part 3 with the jet pipe 4 is mounted for rotation in the stationary bearing casing 4 including a "feed pipe 2. Within the rotary part 3 the water path JV-W is twice bent at a sharp angle directly after its exit from the bearing casing l, i. e. in such a way that it runs after the first deflection in a lane which is radial to the axis of rotation of the sprinkling apparatus and after its second deflection into the spraying direction of the water jet in a plane which is parallel to said axis of rotation, whose vertical distance from the center axis of the bearing casing forms the lever arm M which under action of the reaction pressure of the issuing jet pro-- duces the rotary motion of the sprinkling apparatus.

The deflecting angles are advantageously equal and amount to about 90 to 130 degrees each.

Arranged on the rotary and fixable mouthpiece '5 of the jet pipe 4 is an auxiliary nozzle 6. By the water jet issuing therefrom a second torque is produced whose energy and direction is adjustable by rotating the mouthpiece 5 and, if desired, by throttling the nozzle 6. Moreover, the auxiliary jet causes an additional sprinkling of the inner sprinkling circle. The upper part of the bearing casing l is formed as a plate or disk 1 having arranged on its underside at least two cylinders H], l I, horizontally swingable about lournals'l'fl, the pistons l2, 13 (Fig. 4) "of these 4 cylinders being coupled to the rotary part 3 of the sprinkler in such a way that their dead center positions do not coincide. To this end, for instance, the piston rods l4, l5 may be coupled by a common crank IS with a pinion I! mounted in a plate I of the bearing casing l, which pinion is driven by the rotary part 3 through the inner toothing of a disc wheel l8 (Fi 4).

The brake cylinders Hi, H are filled with air which is particularly suitable as a braking medium since it is elastic and its resistance grows potentially to the piston speed. The air is admitted to the braking cylinder and can escape therefrom through a bore in the cylinder bottom and the play of the piston in the cylinder cover. If desired, the braking effect can be controlled by throttling the bores. Instead of air, another suitable medium, e. g., oil, may serve as a braking medium and the braking cylinders may be adapted to this medium accordingly.

The jet pipe 4 can be provided with an auxiliary nozzle 6 and connected with the rotary part 3 (see Fig. 3) in such .a way that it can be rotated about its axis and fixed in an adjusted position. In this case, the auxiliary nozzle 5 at the mouthpiece 3 may be omitted. The auxiliary nozzle may also be rotatably mounted on the jet pipe, e. g. on a separate ring.

It will be understood that the driving reaction force of the water jet acting at the constant moment arm M (Fig. 3) at first has to overcome the frictional resistances in the sprinkling mechanism before it is able to rotate the jet pipe. Experiments have shown that the difference between the total driving force acting at the jet pipe and the :sum of all calculated frictional forces in the mechanism, including the mechanical compensating device, should be at least 25 percent of the total driving force.

For instance, if the driving force .is 40 cmkg. and the sum of all frictional forces in the mechanism is SOcmkg. there will result a difference of 10 cmkg.

This surplus of force produces the torque which has to be adjusted, because the frictional resistances .in the device are cont-muously changing in operation and the working pressure may also vary within certain limits.

'According to the present invention this regulation ofthe surplus energy can be eiiected in various manners, the individual measures supplementing each other provided that they are properly harmonized.

Thus the hydraulic regulation by one or more auxiliary nozzles acts practically at the point where the reaction force is produced, i. e., at the jet pipe, by producing a second torque acting upon the .jet pipe in such a way that it may be opposed wedded to the main torque.

The widest range of regulation will be obtained if in addition to the second torque the driving torque can also be changed by changing the moment arm M.

The mechanical regulation on the contrary is based on the braking efiect of the air cylinders whose dead center positions are relatively displaced to such an extent, by the cinematical functionof the piston which is just moving, that a practically uniform'rotation is resulting.

' The present invention is not restricted to the simultaneous application of said measures. It has been found, e. g., that by using the reaction elbow piece in a rotary part 3 and an auxiliary nozzle 'on the jet pipe, merely by a slightswmcihg 'of the jet pipe or of its mouthpiece the auxiliary nozzle can be adjusted so accurately and quickly in opposition to the direction of rotation of the sprinkling system that the air braking means in many instances may be omitted. In some instances also the air braking effect alone may be sufficient. Finally, more particularly in case of smaller apparatuses, the reaction pressure required for the drive may be produced by an auxiliary nozzle of a suitable energy, so that the moment arm M may be dispensed with and the regulation may be effected by a further auxiliary nozzle, if desired in connection with the air brake.

In Figs. 5 to 8 the mechanical compensating device is arranged at the underside of the regulator casing I which is formed with a plate-shaped upper part, in the same manner as shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 4. Provided at the underside of the plate 1 of the stationary regulator casing are two folding bellows IOI and I02 each coupled with a crank disc I I6 corresponding to the crank I of the preceding figures.

The ends of each of the bellows form cylindrical sleeves or collars I03, I04 each being airtightly connected with the collar I05, or I06, of one of the flanges I01 or I00.

The flange I01 has a nose I09 whose eye is swingably mounted on a stationary pivot. IIO of the plate 1.

Moreover, the flange I01 bears several, e. g. three guide rods III on which the flange I08 is concentrically guided by corresponding bores II2.

Concentrically screwed into the flange I08 is a normal eye bolt II3 which can be adjusted with respect to the flange I08 and then locked by a nut H4.

The eye of the eye bolt I I3 is movably mounted on the stationary journal II5 of the crank disc As the crank disc IIG rotates in a clockwise direction from the dead center position shown in the upper half of Fig. 9, air is sucked into the bellows IOI through the bore III owing to the increase of volume (suction stroke), so that at the end of its stroke in its right hand dead center or end position shown in the lower half of Fig. 1, the bellows IOI is filled with air.

On further rotation of the crank disc the flange I 08 is moved to the left on the guide rods III and the air thereby compressed is forced out through the bore II1. During this compression stroke, therefore, a braking effect takes place. If desired, the cross section of the bore II'I may be adjustable by a regulating valve.

The second bellows I02 is designed in the same manner as the bellows IOI with its afore-described parts. Both bellows IM and I02 act upon the same crank journal H5 and are relatively displaced by about 100 degrees. Thus a rather uniform braking effect is obtained during a full revolution.

In order to reduce the noxious space or waste clearance of the bellows in its left hand dead center position to the possible minimum, the collar I05 of the flange I01 bears a cylinder head H8, e. g. an appendage, whose diameter corresponds approximately to the inner width of the inner crest of the folds of the bellows, while its height corresponds approximately to the minimum distance of the end faces of the collars I05, I06, of the two flanges I01 and I08. Thus not only the noxious space, as already mentioned, is reduced to a minimum, but simultaneously, in the same manner as by the guide rod I I I, a detrimentalsagging-and deformation of the cover of th folded bellows is prevented.

The folded bellows is advantageously made of rubber, with an insert,'if desired. The driving connection with the rotary part of the sprinkling apparatus is not shown, since this will result from Figs. 1, 2, and 4, if it is figured that the pinion I l is mounted on the shaft II9 of the crank disc H0, Fig. 2, and meshes with the inner toothing of the plate I8 of the rotary part 3 of the sprinkling apparatus.

In order to avoid lateral expansion of the folded bellows, the same are appropriately stiffened in the direction transversely to the piston rod, by inserts of wire or woven material.

According to Fig. 9, two folded bellows 20I of the type known as Smiths bellows are arranged on the stationary casing I of the sprinkling apparatus; one end plate 202 of each of the bellows is fixedly connected with the casing I, while the movable end plate 203 is hingedly connected to the casing I at 204.

Each of the movable end plates 203 of the bellows 20I is coupled, by alink member 205 through a common crank 206, to a pinion (not shown) mounted in the casing I and driven by the rotary part'of the sprinkling apparatus.

As the pinion and with it the crank 206 is rotated by the rotary part of the sprinkling apparatus, the bellows 20I are alternately operated through the'link members 205, thereby producing a corresponding braking and regulating effect.

flnstead of twobellows 20 I a larger number thereof with corresponding link members and cranks may be provided. v

In the exemplification as per Fig. 10 the gear transmission is omitted and only the rotary disk II; of the sprinkling apparatus is left, this disc being provided with one or more driving cams 2 i 0, depending on the desired amount of braking force and the requirements as to uniform rotary motion.

Any desired number of folding bellows H I may be provided on the casing I of the sprinkling apparatus. They are mounted in the form of segments between plates 2I2 which advantageously are interchangeable and can be slided into the stationary casing of the sprinkling apparatus.

Each folding bellows 2 has a hinge 2I3 about the pivot of which swings a movable end plate 2M of the bellows while the second stationary end plate 2 I5 of each bellows 2II engages a star plate 2 I2.

The swinging radius of the extreme end edge of each plate 2 thus is smaller than the radius of rotation of the inner edge of each cam 2I0. 0n rotation of the plate I8 of the sprinkling apparatus in a clockwise direction the cams 2I0 successively engage the movable end plate 2M of the individual bellows 2, thus taking them along as long as the radii of swinging or rotation of the plates 2 and of the cams 2I0 intersect. Then the cams 2I0 disengagethe plate 2M entirely automatically, while the movable end plates 2M return to their initial positions, under action of leaf springs 2I6 or the like.

The cams 2I0 then will engage the next movable end plate 2I4, whereupon the cycle of operation repeats itself.

The braking effect can be adjusted by bores 2|! which advantageously are arranged in the stationary end plate 2I5 and in the holding plate 2 I2 of each of the bellows 2| I.

Where a large number of bellows is intended to operate simultaneously, producing very high air; neslstancesgathe nebnmdmgcotscachimowble end plate 2 must beimsurfld 2y z theip l v fiifl of a shack 'qpressnne -:valve 1 218 which may 269!!" sistnfm, sin'xplernbbensheet.

35301" ;the mesh, was already zmentoaed. :the ;-1:e bounding 50f tthe,.ma0ab1exmdmlatesqfll and :so the iopening not :the :hellows "a! It is sefiected 4 y suitablaspringsfl L 6.

JIhe :drivingr connectioneofithe :cnank 206 AFig.

departmgefromrthe spirit and scope ottheinvention and itsis intended, i-etherefore, to -..cov,.er all such changes @and modi-fications in. the cappended claims.

.Haviz;1g thus described -.-my .inyentior ,v I asznew and desire; to secure: by Letters;Patcnt:

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3., Asprinklins.apparat usiaccordm ro claimg, h reinv-saidim ns,tor ,coi plmei-the istons,with the rotary part comprise,.,a pinion mounted in he hear n ceasin .and dr ven J y the rotary part mistonmd e and-a c mmon cra k. fo 0Q- pl na. s i ston nods with-sam imcn.

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Rcferenccs Gited the file'of this patent U TED. STA E PATE T Number zName *Date 31; 180,167 :M-fiMulla/n c---=- ,Apr. 1:18, 2.19156 1,458,814 Focht June 12, 19.23 3 36 122019 iiKlmft 50013.? 5, 1926 113121.237 'Bodd ,iJflllyi 16, "1192 31552805332 ;;B ricklail-l ---N0v. 4,:1-93 1,847,763 Keys Mar.;1 ,,1 932 :-;19Q1:,=65 cKeys"..-" 1 -aMar.:14, 1933 113054382 {Keys,, )May 2,=19 3 4 2,056,290 Meng Oct. 6, 1936 523557020 rSRBIXQ-EIZ c v c celune; 1 1-9 1 

